2011-2012 College Football Thread

[iSaint]

I took my son to the Miss State v TSUN (MSU Coach Dan Mullen's pet name for Ole Miss, The School Up North) yesterday. Wow, what an atmosphere. I haven't been to a game in three years and it has changed tremendously. The #hailstate end zone is only a part of the incredible marketing that is going on there.



First, I must say we were very lucky to have received "Club Level" tickets from my brother's friend. These aren't sky boxes, but is a club atmosphere with food, couches, televisions all inside; and twenty rows of chair back stadium seating outside below the room. We were out of the rain for the most part. (pic orientation altered during upload to MR)

View attachment 313963

The jumbo tron is beyond anything imaginable. With the slight rain, the fans actually get a better look at the game watching the jumbo tron, and my son and I caught ourselves watching it several times. They also added the ribbon boards across the stadium which are flashy and attention getting.



It was so nice to be able to take our cowbells to the game. The fans do really "ring responsibly." But we they ring it's loud.

There is always something going on from the jumbo tron: advertisements that are creative, fun, and attract the fans during timeouts. Music that gets everyone pumped. They played "All I Do is Win" towards the end, during a time out, and there's a part where the song stops, and EVERYONE in the stand stopped, raised their hands, and was quiet for that split second then began singing again when the song started up. There were even advertisements that made fun of our opponent.

Poor Ole Miss has lost their mascot (Rebel), their music (Dixie), and nothing has been done to retain any school spirit. Miss State's marketing is appealing to the younger crowd and it's working. "This is Our State" is working as a motto. The team's gold shoes and gold numbered uniforms were cool, I must say. Gold coming from the Battle for the Golden Egg, the funny looking trophy for the game. They can put us down all they want, but Miss State is winning the marketing game. My son is twelve and he can't wait to go to school there!






Maybe this is going on elsewhere, but a lot of wonderful changes have come about in three years. State has always been mediocre, but we've now had 16 straight sellouts, and the marketing is a huge reason!

 

[echeck]

Ignatious, unfortunately you're right. But Moore was still invited to NYC after the nightmare last season. Granted his stock dropped dramatically, but at least he was still invited.

Ah well. We non-AQers just have to accept the bias. I realize some is warranted (SoS), but those that just completely write us off should be thrown into a river with their only hope of survival being a boat with a giant Boise State logo on the side.

 

[Mr Kram]

It's not bias when it is the best conference in the country.



The problem is that nobody from a team on probation will stand a chance in the voting. It's not fair, but that is the way the system works. It's the same way that a mostly defensive play probably won't win it any time soon.

#1 yup it's not fair.
#2 ever heard of andre ware?

 

[swiftaw]

Wow, just wow
This video is unbelievable... trust me

it is long, but watch the whole thing... riveting
This is Auburn OC Gus Malzahn's wife

YouTube: video

That is an amazing interview. Was she drunk?

 

[MacDawg]

Q: How does an SEC team actually lose the BCS National Championship?
A: By playing another SEC team

Unprecedented
5 straight BCS NCs
2 teams likely to play this year
3 teams possible in the BCS
2 teams possible to play for BCS and neither be the SEC Champion

I still wouldn't be surprised to see the voters put OK State in to prevent all of this
Even though clearly LSU and Alabama are the 2 best teams in the country

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

Some coaching news/rumors starting to come down after all the firings over the weekend...


Tommy Tuberville will be the coach at TxTech next year (no real surprise there, despite Rodimus's yearnings).

KU fans are hoping Mike Leach is their next coach (I'm still not sure he'll get hired anywhere until his lawsuit against ESPN is wrapped up

Urban Meyer will be announced as the OSU coach soon after agreeing to a 7 year, $40M deal. I guess his health and family aren't as important to him now as they were last year

 

[dmr727]

I should get you guys some Alabama or LSU hats - holy crap I've never seen fans ride the coattails of success like you SEC guys. If OU wins a title, I'd be the last guy on the planet to be happy about it. Must be a southern thing, sticking together like that.

 

[iSaint]

I should get you guys some Alabama or LSU hats - holy crap I've never seen fans ride the coattails of success like you SEC guys. If OU wins a title, I'd be the last guy on the planet to be happy about it. Must be a southern thing, sticking together like that.

For me, Miss State sucks or is average every year. I've been cheering for them all of my life. So, over the years, I've grown accustomed to average but enjoy cheering the SEC on in the bowl games. Last year for Miss State was a fantastic season.

It would be different if I were a fan of a top echelon team. Or maybe not, I try not to get so excited about the games anymore. It's a lot of fun to watch competitive games on Saturday no matter what conference.

 

[Mr Kram]

For me, Miss State sucks or is average every year. I've been cheering for them all of my life. So, over the years, I've grown accustomed to average but enjoy cheering the SEC on in the bowl games. Last year for Miss State was a fantastic season.

It would be different if I were a fan of a top echelon team. Or maybe not, I try not to get so excited about the games anymore. It's a lot of fun to watch competitive games on Saturday no matter what conference.

with the initiation of the BCS, you have no choice, but to root for conference teams, especially ones that are on your schedule. however, cheering out of necessity is different than claiming the success of another team in your conference.

 

[steve2112]

I should get you guys some Alabama or LSU hats - holy crap I've never seen fans ride the coattails of success like you SEC guys. If OU wins a title, I'd be the last guy on the planet to be happy about it. Must be a southern thing, sticking together like that.

No, you are mistaken. I'm not one of these idiots chanting "SEC!" at games and such. I merely point out to mistaken people that the SEC is in fact the best conference in the country right now. Why did we go 6-6 this year? Well, because at one time the top 3 spots in the BCS were occupied by teams in our division. Kinda hard to win a lot of games facing that kind of schedule. I also keep pointing out the bowl records vs. other conferences because some people think the SEC is not the best.

I have different levels of hatred for the rest of the conference. At the top would be Ole Miss, of course. After that would be LSU (Worst fans in the conference. Drunk and violent), Alabama (arrogant fans claiming mythical national titles from Bob's Bait Shack in the 1930s), and Auburn after last year's Cam Newton mess. After that, it's pretty much apathy for everyone else except Vandy. They have been so bad for so long, I like seeing them have some success.

The only reason I like seeing the rest of the conference do well is it means more money for us. Unlike certain other conferences where one or two teams bully the other schools around and get bigger shares of the money, the SEC actually did it right and spread the wealth around. So, when Bama and LSU go to BCS games, it means more money for Mississippi State. I can live with that.

 

[MacDawg]

I should get you guys some Alabama or LSU hats - holy crap I've never seen fans ride the coattails of success like you SEC guys. If OU wins a title, I'd be the last guy on the planet to be happy about it. Must be a southern thing, sticking together like that.

I don't hate Alabama and LSU, I just loathe them both equally

I hate the Gators
I hate the Vols
I hate Auburn
I hate Bobby Petrino (hence Arkansas)
For the record I also hate Clemson out of conference
Hating Ga Tech goes without saying


I loathe SCarolina
I loathe Alabama
I loathe LSU

Kentucky is insignificant
Vandy is insignificant
Ole Miss is irrelevant
Miss State is meh


Where you hate OU, I hate the Gators, not Alabama/LSU
I would never root for the Gators, Vols, Auburn or Tech under any circumstances

Objectively, LSU and Alabama are clearly the 2 best teams in my opinion
I don't think it is even close
Doesn't mean I like them or root for them

 

[dmr727]

No, you are mistaken.

Probably. My wife tells me I'm wrong all the time - after awhile you get used to it!

For me, it all begins and ends with Texas. I'm not particularly concerned with how well the Big 12 is doing unless Texas needs the SOS to achieve some goal (and with us being so crappy at the moment, that's certainly not the case!).

 

[Mr Kram]

Interesting poll, don't cheat.

Who's Number 2?

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Providing OSU has a good win against OU I think that would be enough to jump them to number 2. In terms TV rating sec vs sec is not going to be as good as sec vs big 12 for the NC game. Sorry but sec only will only get you sec market and not include the big 12 and sec market.
Either way a good win from OSU should be enough to jump them in the polls.

 

[dmr727]

Interesting poll, don't cheat.

I voted for oSu, but Alabama was a close second. What the poll ignores is the nature of each of their losses - obviously oSu's loss to ISU is a pretty bad pock mark on their record. It could be argued that the plane crash had their minds elsewhere, but seriously - ISU? Ugh!

 

[Tomorrow]

I voted for OSU as well, although I didn't realize it at the time.

I disagree with many posters here. Forget about who lost to whom, I believe that if Alabama and Oklahoma State met on a neutral field, the Cowboys would win. Hate all you want, that's the way I see it. I've watched both teams play, and the Cowboys look better than the Tide.

 

[Mr Kram]

I voted for oSu, but Alabama was a close second. What the poll ignores is the nature of each of their losses - obviously oSu's loss to ISU is a pretty bad pock mark on their record. It could be argued that the plane crash had their minds elsewhere, but seriously - ISU? Ugh!

I voted for OSU as well, although I didn't realize it at the time.

I disagree with many posters here. Forget about who lost to whom, I believe that if Alabama and Oklahoma State met on a neutral field, the Cowboys would win. Hate all you want, that's the way I see it. I've watched both teams play, and the Cowboys look better than the Tide.

for me, this poll tells me that alabama is not the clear cut #2 that a lot of people are claiming. i'm not saying the okie lite is, but they have a legimate argument. i also think you must win your conference. bye bye bama (and stanford). and say no to rematches. again, bama (and oregon) step aside.

 

[dmr727]

I personally would love to see anything other than a rematch of LSU/Alabama for the title (yawn), but I'll admit that I do think they're still the best two teams in the country. However without a playoff the whole notion of a national title is BS anyway, so why not give one of the other one loss teams a shot?

It'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out.

 

[MacDawg]

Dawgs surprises a flat and overconfident LSU with the upset
Oklahoma beats Oklahoma State in a thriller

Who ya got then?

 

[dmr727]

Who ya got then?

Eight team playoff - which is what we ****ing should have been doing this whole time!

 

[Mr Kram]

Dawgs surprises a flat and overconfident LSU with the upset
Oklahoma beats Oklahoma State in a thriller

Who ya got then?

i personally would like to see stanford vs. LSU. oregon - okie lite would be a blast just for giggles.

 

[ucfgrad93]

Eight team playoff - which is what we ****ing should have been doing this whole time!

Agreed. I can't stand the BCS.

 

[MacDawg]

I personally like all the banter, trash talking, speculation, controversy, etc the BCS causes

What other sport is built on woulda, coulda, shoulda

Teams feel robbed and cheated and claim to be #1 when they aren't

Great drama

When the Superbowl or World Series is over, nobody keeps talking for decades about it
But college fans can recount every shred of disrespect their team has ever been shown

 

[Tomorrow]

The only system I would favor if the BCS went kaput would be a return to the old bowl tie-ins.

Yeah, I didn't think anybody else would be on board with that.

Since we have a one-round, two-team playoff, the teams should be seeded #1 and #2 and given the chance to play for the title. If that means a rematch then so be it.

To all you BCS naysayers who go on and on and on crowing about how this-or-that sport or league has a "real" playoff and that CFB should be more like that - I'll remind you all that there are NO provisions in place in any of those "other" leagues or sports that discourage rematches in the playoffs OR the finals.

Just because the BCS is only one round doesn't mean it isn't a playoff; pick the best two teams and let them play for it, without regard to conferences or rematches.

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

I disagree with many posters here. Forget about who lost to whom, I believe that if Alabama and Oklahoma State met on a neutral field, the Cowboys would win. Hate all you want, that's the way I see it. I've watched both teams play, and the Cowboys look better than the Tide.

I think OSU is a very good team, but their defense is utterly atrocious. Nothing about Alabama falls into that category, therefore I believe the Tide would win by 14 or so, especially if there was a month to prepare beforehand, as defenses almost always look better in BCS "Championship" games than do offenses.

Eight team playoff - which is what we ****ing should have been doing this whole time!

Bingo. As much as I think that LSU and Alabama are the two best teams in the country right now, I'd love nothing more than to see them prove it on the field.

Since we have a one-round, two-team playoff, the teams should be seeded #1 and #2 and given the chance to play for the title. If that means a rematch then so be it.

To all you BCS naysayers who go on and on and on crowing about how this-or-that sport or league has a "real" playoff and that CFB should be more like that - I'll remind you all that there are NO provisions in place in any of those "other" leagues or sports that discourage rematches in the playoffs OR the finals.

Just because the BCS is only one round doesn't mean it isn't a playoff; pick the best two teams and let them play for it, without regard to conferences or rematches.

One round does not make a playoff, but I do agree that the point of the BCS isn't to preclude a rematch. The goal of any postseason system should be to take the best teams and let them decide a champion on the field. If it's truly intended to be the top 2 (or 4, 8, 16, 32 or 64+) teams, then no amount of politicking or voter discretion should really ever be involved, but the BCS always includes coaches and media types posturing for their teams, even more so than in college hoops, where the fight to be the last one in is fierce. Why? Because it's a lot harder to pick one team out of 119 than it is to pick 37 out of 300+.

Also, let's not forget that college football is the only sport, on any level, that determines its "champion" by vote rather than postseason tournament. Can you imagine how much less a pop culture icon the Super Bowl would be if its contestants were voted into the game? College football is a million times better than the NFL, yet we allow its "champion" to be determined by regional sportswriters, sports information directors (or coaches' personal assistants), computer geeks and greedy charlatans like Jim Junker.

Anyone who thinks the BCS is the best system should read the first couple of chapters (at least) of Death to the BCS. If you still feel that way, I'd love to hear your argument.